Howard tops Carruthers to qualify for Players’ Championship playoffs
TORONTO — Glenn Howard, of Penetanguishene, Ont., is through to the playoffs at the Players’ Championship.
Howard earned a 7-2 win over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers during Draw 11 Friday afternoon to finish pool play with a 3-2 record to advance.
Carruthers (1-3) needs to win his final round-robin game in the evening against Calgary’s Charley Thomas to stay in contention.
Howard opened with the hammer and made an angle raise tap to score two in the first frame. He went up 3-0 with a steal in the second when Carruthers came up light on the draw. Carruthers bounced back with a deuce in the third but struggled again giving up single steals in three consecutive ends.
Meanwhile, Thomas (1-3) is hanging on by getting into the win column with a 5-2 victory over defending champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Thomas got out of a jam in the fourth with an amazing runback triple to score a single and take a 2-1 lead. Jacobs (2-2) tied it with a point in six and Thomas pulled back ahead with a three-count in seven.
Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (2-2) picked up a 6-3 win to eliminate American John Shuster (1-4) from contention.
Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., defeated David Murdoch of Scotland 5-2 and remain undefeated. Gushue, who won the Elite 10 title last month, climbed to a 4-0 record with his playoff spot secure and a game in hand while Murdoch is also off to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 record.
Reigning world champion Kevin Koe of Calgary also moved up to 4-0 with an 8-3 win over Niklas Edin of Sweden. Edin fell to a 2-3 record and is currently sitting in eighth for the last playoff spot with one men’s round-robin draw left in the evening (watch live online at thegrandslamofcurling.com at 7 p.m. ET).
NOTES: The Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will also be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Rachel Homan mathematically clinched the women’s title with the men’s champion to be determined. … Winners of the Players’ Championship earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta.
